Rosemary 1 of 1
by Carrion's Comfort
Summary: All legends were once people who lived, but more importantly………who loved, M/L


Title: Rosemary  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Category: Angst/Romance, 3rd pov, futurefic  
  
Spoilers: References to 'Freak Nation' but nothing too obvious  
  
Disclaimer: They're not mine. It took me 24 steps to admit that. I had to do the class twice  
  
Archive: Ask if you want it  
  
Summary: All legends were once people who lived, and more importantly...who loved  
  
Notes: This is an M/L fic. If you don't like that brand of ship, please do not take up space in my inbox telling me so in gratuitous detail. And don't bother flaming me, since all that does is bore me.  
  
'Strum and drang' literally means 'storm and thunder' in German, but it is used not meteorologically, but rather to describe emotions.  
  
Oh and all my mistakes are my own since I am beta-less  
  
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In trying to deny our past, and wipe out our future, They fostered a fierce pride of whom and what we were ... are.  
  
In trying to demonise us, they showed us how truly human we were. How we were no different from the 'normals' that feared what they didn't know.  
  
In trying to deny us a voice, They taught us the value of our stories, our history.  
  
There are many stories that are told.  
  
Some only suitable for late night sessions full of smoke and whatever is on tap. Some are now used as primers for our children, but as in all cultures, as in all histories, there is one story that captures the imagination and hearts of young and old. And as much as the cynics may scoff and try to brush it aside, the power of the story never fades.  
  
It reminds us that though there is darkness always at our heels -and not just those who were born with the prison tattoo of a barcode, but everybody- there is also beauty, truth, and there is always love.  
  
Love, which is not measured in kisses, or tender words and sighs, but a love that grew despite all attempts to crush it. Love born out of blood sweat and tears -far too many tears- but a love also born out of two souls finding in each other the missing piece.  
  
Joshua and Alec tell the story best. Perhaps it is because they are the only ones left who actually knew them. Them. Max and Logan.  
  
In this day and age, it is easy to think of them as larger than life characters, heroes, revolutionary lovers who gave their tomorrows, so that we might have our today's, but to Joshua and Alec they were people, friends, siblings, protectors, pains in the respective asses, all this and more.  
  
So every year, when it our time to remember, to mourn and to celebrate the birth of our nation, both Joshua and Alec tell their tale together.  
  
This is the day we named Rosemary.  
  
Alec always begins. As the years go by his swagger is a little less, and his voice a little softer, but the power of the story never changes.  
  
How strange it is that his first glimpse of them together, was so similar to their last moments, in this broken world, together. Clinging to each other desperately as time worked against them.  
  
It is still with a touch of shame, that he recites his part of the tale. Alec- smart alec- watching two halves of one soul try to live separately, try to be happy that way, and try to make the other believe that it was for the best.  
  
Even though he knows that they didn't blame him in the end, Alec will always blame himself for his part in their tragedy. He was the tool Manticore used to strike its cruelest blow. In keeping them apart it came closest to destroying them.  
  
But in the end, it did not matter. Whether they wanted to be or not, they were bound together, by soul, spirit, even by blood.  
  
When it gets too much for him, Joshua takes over, reminding us that even through their dark year together, they would still find so much joy in each other, in the absurdly simple act of dancing together.  
  
Joshua pulls out long stored tales of Max that no one else was ever privy to. Of how she would spend hours telling him all about Logan. About how she would let down all guards and for a little while look just like an ordinary girl in love, except their love could never be classified as ordinary.  
  
But this is no fairy tale.  
  
They have happy endings.  
  
This tale does not.  
  
Instead the story is continued by both, often in a unified shared voice, supporting each other as one gives in to emotion that grips us by the throat and holds our voices hostage in a vice-like grip.  
  
There was no cunning plan of White's that brought them down, just brutality and numbers.  
  
Since there was no way to get to Logan, White did the next best thing. He got to Logan's family. His cousin, his cousin's wife, and their child were held as hostages.  
  
They were all against him leaving Terminal City. Even Mole -Alec reminds us with a choked laugh. Only Max refused to try and sway his decision.  
  
She remained silent as he issued last minute directions about all his precious computer ware, and as he turned to leave, she very deliberately kissed Joshua and Alec good-bye and began to follow Logan.  
  
Their following fight is still talked about, even by those who were born afterwards. Some call it spectacular, some call it 'strum and drang', Alec and Joshua just called it Max and Logan being 'Max and Logan'.  
  
He begged her to reconsider, and her only reply to him was that she would if he would. When he couldn't answer, she said that was why she loved him.  
  
It was the first time she had ever told him.  
  
He didn't try to argue anymore, he just held her gloved hand against his face, and whispered his answer to her.  
  
Despite the fact most people in that command centre had heightened hearing, no one will ever reveal what Logan told Max. Though they belong to history now, they still deserve some privacy.  
  
So with squared shoulders they went to meet their certain death.  
  
Despite the huge crowd watching, White was quite prepared to shoot Bennett Cale's son, but both Max and Logan, in a final act of defiance refused to let that happen. Logan threw himself at White, and Max threw herself over the baby.  
  
It's a famous scene now, one which pinpoints when exactly the tide turned and anti-transgenic sentiment began to wane. They were both shot in the process, but not before Logan managed to shoot White, and not before Max managed to save an innocent child.  
  
People watched in horrified, terrified fascination, as despite his wounds, Logan Cale crawled over to where his love lay dying.  
  
She smiled at him, as though happy.  
  
Maybe she was.  
  
Alec and Joshua always say she died happy. She had him, and she never really wanted anything else.  
  
He was crying, whispering that it wasn't fair, and that she deserved so much more. He tried to say more, but it became too much for him, and he lay down next to her, and with her final burst of strength she rolled over to fit into the crook of his arms. That gave Logan a last burst of strength, shakily stripping off his leather gloves; he traced the delicate features of Max's face, before pressing a final shaky kiss to her mouth.  
  
And then they were both utterly still.  
  
Despite the rabble that had always waited outside Terminal City, like hungry vultures, there was a silence.  
  
No one spoke.  
  
No one moved.  
  
The Alec and Joshua went to pick up their mutilated bodies, and as they did, some of the 'normals' who had all hoped and called for their deaths, came to help.  
  
The procession was silent, but for once not tense, as they took the bodies away to be properly seen to.  
  
Once a year we tell this story, but perhaps we are wrong to guard it as jealously as we do. It is not 'our' story. It belongs to everybody. For really it is a story about love.  
  
That is what the Day of Rosemary celebrates  
  
Love undefeated. 


End file.
